


Chrysoprase

by eternalsession



Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-27 21:57:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16710793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternalsession/pseuds/eternalsession
Summary: It's the anniversary of the day she was summoned.





	Chrysoprase

Today was a special day. The second of February, the anniversary of the day she was summoned. One circumstance lead to another and she was granted a second life to spend with her beloved. She often found herself wondering what Merlin or her knights would think if they saw her like this, partaking in body and spirit of a Japanese man, whom she only met through death, and the foster son of a man she had nothing but contempt for. Though he ended up explaining that the Kiritsugu he knew and the Kiritsugu she knew were wildly different, she never managed to stem her feelings. He understood the feeling, recalling his grudge toward a certain red-clad individual that his friends had a lot more tolerance for.

This was quite enough musing, she thought, then lazily stood up and dressed herself. She did honestly consider herself a morning person but waking up for her often proved challenging. Her thoughts often wondered in such a drowsy state, though most frequently they turned to her beloved. Her Master. How long it had been since she called him that… it felt nostalgic, almost. Not that she should have any fondness for the equivalent of contemplated murder but… perhaps because of her origins as a servant, it felt like a natural thing to say. Before she knew it, she had already fully dressed herself.

Her attire was modest, especially for one of her renown and riches. She wore a simple brown dress, adorned with frills and a ribbon, under that, a long sleeve shirt which revealed her shoulders. She put it on as one piece, so she supposed that kind of look was on purpose. She didn’t put on any shoes as she was still inside, but the shoes to match were simple brown sandals. She herself found it modest, though she never had much experience dressing… “womanly,” as Rin called it. She didn’t know how to feel, though when presenting to Shirou, a man who’d been personally witness to her bare, she found herself feeling bashful. Rider called that kind of feeling love—a feeling which she felt was unknown, though not one she disliked. She supposed she never had any love for Guinivere, even as Lancelot confessed to her that he had been having an affair with her wife, she could not muster any anger.

Lancelot hated her for that. For not punishing him. She couldn’t understand that, who would want to be punished? It was one of her many regrets. Though now wasn’t the time to be thinking about such trite matters, especially on this day. She passed into the kitchen, though unusually, there was no aroma of freshly cooked food. Strangely though, no sign of the delightful redhead she’d lived with for years. Instead, on the counter was food that seemed to have been made earlier, covered with plastic wrap, with a note on it that read “I know how much you need to eat breakfast, so I cooked this for you before I left. I’ve left clues around the places we usually frequent, so come find me!”

Aw. There was a little heart at the end of the message.

She would have liked to spend the majority of this day with her beloved, though so rarely did he do something like this… she surely should have been able to contact one of her friends, perhaps Archer would be willing to help her, though she decided if he wished so much to be playful, she shall play along with his game. After scarfing down her food (delicious, as always), she made for the door. On it, a note read that he was in the market, waiting for her by the taiyaki stand. As she made sure to lock the door behind her, she saw a note on that side of the door as well. “Don’t give up, Saber! It’ll be worth the effort, I promise!” She assumed it was for the chance she decided she didn’t enjoy this game and returned home.

Truly, this was not like him. But it was cute.

Hurriedly, she made for the taiyaki stand. It was a brisk walk, though she was regretting not wearing any stockings under her dress; the winter air was unpleasant, to say the least. Since she was heading for the market anyway, she thought she might as well stop by the store and pick up a pair. Oh, and exchange her sandals for boots. Returning home and changing would have been a smarter idea, but she didn’t wish to waste time. Remembering her original goal, after changing into some appropriate clothing (she still felt chilly, though the warmness that covered her legs was delightful), she hurried to the taiyaki stand, sandals in hand. Again, no Shirou.

The taiyaki stand owner recognized the small blonde-haired girl and waved her over, to which she obliged.

“On the house.”

“Excuse me?”

“’S the least I can do for ya, it brings a smile to my face seein’ ya enjoy this taiyaki so much, lass!”

She beamed, thanking him for his kindness and offered him a small bow. As she walked away to find a place to sit and eat, she felt the presence of another of her kind.

“Lancer.”

“Why, hello there, little lady. The kid just came around this way not too long ago. Had a nice chat with the man who gave you that taiyaki.”

“Ah, so Shirou paid for this, then?” She took a bite of her taiyaki. Nothing compared to Shirou’s cooking, of course, but it was heavenly nonetheless.

Lancer shrugged. “Dunno. He told me that if I saw you, I should tell you to go to the park. Well, I owe him one, so I decided to keep lookout.”

“That’s very kind of you, Lancer. Thank you.”

“Nah, don’t mention it. ‘S the least I could do. Kid’s finally grown some balls.”

“What do you mean by that?” She finished her taiyaki before she spoke, sliding her hands across each other to remove the crumbs.

Lancer leaned his head to the side and placed a hand on his neck, then chuckled. “Better get going.”

She left with more questions than she had but agreed that she should get going. As she stood up, she forgot the sandals she left the house with, so a kind blue haired warrior took them and put them somewhere safe, at least until his friend could come retrieve them.

As she arrived at the park, she noticed no one was there, save a lone girl on a bench. Certainly not who she came here for. She expected things to be like this when she left, however. Still, it would do no good not to greet her.

“Good afternoon, Illyasviel.”

“Ah, Saber. Good afternoon to you as well.”

“What are you doing in this park here all alone?”

“I’ve been looking for someone,” she says, expelling herself from the bench.

“What a coincidence. Are we looking for the same person?”

Illya shakes her head, then points in the direction of the temple. At once, the blonde warrior understands. The pale girl who lit the way for her is glad to be of use.

“It was a pretty big favor for him to call in. That boy certainly knows how to make use of his resources.”

“Friends.” She corrects her.

Illya’s eyes grow wide for a moment, then she offers a pleasant smile. “Of course. We’re all his friends.”

The brown-clad king pats the head of the girl who tried her best to be of use. It wasn’t that she thought Illya needed the validation, just that she should thank anyone who offers her help. It was the right thing to do.

She nearly flies up the staircase, using her superhuman strength to bound up several steps at a time. Before long, a familiar samurai greets her. She starts to explain why she wished to be allowed entrance, but the samurai merely moves to the side. She bows slightly, then makes her way inside the temple. On her left, she spots Caster, whom she makes eye contact with for a moment, before she pretends not to have seen. She supposed this was as fair as an agreement as she could have expected. Still, she didn’t know where to go… Considering her options, Caster was parked on her left, which means she could only go right. She wasn’t sure how long Caster would continue allowing her to stay here. Quickly, she made her way behind the temple, coming into an open field.

There he was, back turned. Surely, he noticed her, but he had yet to turn to face her. For one reason or another, there was a small part of forest behind the Ryuudou Temple that was home to no trees or even flowers. She wondered if there was some sort of supernatural occurrence. The scene was honestly beautiful. It was a small clearing on a cliff’s edge, facing the wide-open sky. She’d never seen it before; he probably wished for her to see it at least once. The breeze pulled her hair to the side. For a moment, all she could think about was how dashing he looked just standing there as the wind pulled his hair and clothes. Slowly, he turned around.

“Did you have fun?”

She nodded. Certainly, more fun than she expected to have. He smiled in return, sighing with relief and telling her he was glad. Truthfully (as she suspected), it was Tohsaka’s idea, but he wanted to go along with it because it seemed like a fun way to go about today. He wanted her to see this place and figured she’d agree to just about anything if he asked, but Tohsaka was insistent on doing it like this.

“And what’s so special about today?”

He scratched an itch on the back of his head, choosing not to meet her eyes. She was curious, but she knew that he found some words hard to say. As did she, at times. Slowly, he kneeled. He kept his head down the entire time.

She didn’t think anything of it. She was the king, after all. Men kneeling before her was not a rare occurrence for her, and of course she’d never been proposed to. Even with Guinivere, the marriage they shared was one more so of formality.

She didn’t bat an eye to the gesture.

From his coat pocket, he pulls out a small box. And now she can see where this is going. Slowly, with shaking hands, he holds up the box, then opens it with another hand. When he meets her eyes for the first time, they’re glazed over with tears.

She found it strange that she was so emotional for this moment, for she knew it would come eventually. Before and after the fact, a marriage is just a formal way of saying that two people are in love.

But she couldn’t stop her tears; tears turned into bawling into hiccups. She fell to her knees and embraced him, to which he returned the gesture. She’s not sure, but she thinks she can hear him quietly sobbing as well. He didn’t even get the chance to ask the question.

After many moments of crying and laughing, the king stands up again, flashing to him a wide smile. When he looks at her eyes, puffy and red from the tears, he thinks only to himself that he has no regrets. This was the only path.

He slides the ring onto her finger.


End file.
